Auctions

A brief letter of 1864 in which Ulysses S Grant agrees to General William T Sherman’s ‘March to the Sea’, a bold plan to destroy Atlanta, then march across Georgia to Savannah or Charleston during the American Civil War, sold for $100,000 (£75,755) on October 19, at Heritage Auctions (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) in Dallas.

A collection of tobacco leaf pattern Chinese export porcelain surpassed all expectations to sell for a combined £116,000 at Mallams Cheltenham (20% buyer’s premium).

Sotheby’s From Earth To Fire sale in Bond Street on November 1 was topped by a kunstkammer object with a Rothschild provenance.

The doors have closed on what could be the final edition of the 'Winter Art & Antiques Fair Olympia' after almost three decades.

Bonhams’ Important Design sale in Bond Street on October 25 included this George III mahogany hall settee in the manner of William and John Linnell. Estimated at £8000- 12,000, it sold at £140,000 (plus premium), writes Roland Arkell.

The value of ‘Outsider’ art continues to grow following the dispersal of one of the UK’s largest collections at Anderson & Garland (25% buyer’s premium).

ATG’s selection of auction lots bought by internet bidders on thesaleroom.com from the period October 26-November 1, 2017. This includes both the highest prices over estimate and the top prices paid online.

Dated by the Edinburgh auctioneers to c.1815-17, a group of watercolours made on a voyage to the Middle and Far East was bid to a far higher than expected £13,000 in a 650-lot Lyon & Turnbull (25/20% buyer’s premium) sale of October 11.

Offered at a wider-ranging, paintings and decorative arts sale at Dreweatts (24% buyer’s premium), this Pilkington’s Royal Lancastrian lustre vase, below, would have stood out at a post-1860s design sale.

The October 17 Swann Galleries (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) sale focused largely on early printed medical, scientific and travel books but also included, at $24,000 (£18,180), a first edition in Greek of the works of Herodotus.

With sales of post-1860 design a seasonal fixture round the country, an argument could be made for Scottish auctioneers Lyon & Turnbull (25% buyer’s premium) having a geographical edge.

A brace of unrecorded pastels by celebrated Scottish Colourist SJ Peploe (1871-1935) sold strongly at Lawrences (22% buyer’s premium) in Crewkerne.